The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has initiated proceedings to begin examining the use of renewable energy credits (RECs) for compliance with California's renewables portfolio standard (RPS). The RPS requires utilities to obtain 20% of their power from renewable sources by 2010.

Section 399.16 of the California Public Utilities Code, as amended by Senate Bill 107 in 2006, gave the CPUC the discretion to authorize the use of RECs to meet the RPS, subject to certain conditions, the CPUC notes. One of those conditions was the establishment of a tracking system for credits - a requirement that the CPUC met last month when the Western Renewable Energy Generation Tracking System successfully went online.

The CPUC will hold a three-day conference on REC trading in September and is currently soliciting pre-workshop comments to aid it in developing the agenda and guiding discussion at the workshop.